Apps like MindShift CBT but focused on exposure practice (2026)

If you want an app like MindShift CBT but built around actually doing exposure steps, the maintained options on the UK App Store in October 2026 are Conquer Fear (it writes the ladder for your fear), Habituate (a free tracker for timed practice), Bia (a paid guided programme) and oVRcome (practice in virtual reality). MindShift itself has not closed. Anxiety Canada did, but the app passed to its developer, 247 Labs, and was rebuilt from scratch in August 2026, so if you want something free, on Android, with exposure as one tool among many, keep using it.

What we found

MindShift's own version history tells the story most lists miss. On the UK App Store it shows an update on 13 March 2025, then nothing for almost nine months until 10 December 2025, then a ground-up rebuild, version 4.0.0, on 20 August 2026. That gap is when Anxiety Canada lost its funding. A CBC report from August 2025 said "Its MindShift app, which was shut down when the funding was removed". It came back under 247 Labs, and Best For You, a young people's mental health site run by NHS trusts and the charity CW+, now says plainly: "The app is now owned by a company called 247 Labs. It was originally made by Anxiety Canada."

So if you are looking for an alternative because someone told you MindShift is dead, that is out of date. When we ran a web search on 25 October 2026, the search tool's own summary still told us MindShift was shutting down in March 2025. It is not. The iPhone version was last updated on 19 September 2026 and the Android version on 18 September 2026.

The second thing we found: of the nine exposure-focused alternatives below, three have not been updated in over a year, and one of those has not changed since November 2017. Last-updated dates are in the table.

Why people look for a MindShift alternative

There are four honest reasons, and only the first one is a myth.

1. They heard it shut down. Covered above. It did not, for long.
2. Exposure is one tab, not the whole app. The 4.0.0 release notes list Thought Records, Coping Statements, Behavioural Experiments, Relaxation and Mindfulness, daily Check-Ins, Learn, Quick Tips, a Community forum, and "Improved Goals and Comfort Zone Challenges". The store description still says the toolkit includes a "fear ladder". That is a lot of app around the part you came for.
3. The ladder steps come from a library. When we used it in September 2026, MindShift offered around six ready-made steps drawn from a set of common fears. If your fear was not in that set, it filled the ladder with the nearest one it had: we typed in a fear of chickens and got steps about dogs.
4. A step that is too big stays too big. In the same September 2026 test we could not find a way to break a step down into smaller ones.

Points 3 and 4 come from our hands-on test before the latest update. We have not re-tested the 4.1.0 version, and if 247 Labs has changed either, we will correct this.

When to keep using MindShift

Keep it if any of these is true:

• You want free. It has no subscriptions and no in-app purchases. Its listing says "Always Free".
• You are on Android. Several of the apps below are iPhone only.
• Your fear is a common one. The library problem only bites when your fear is unusual.
• You want the other tools too. Thought records and a community forum are things most exposure-first apps do not have, including ours.

If none of those applies and what you want is a plan of small real-world steps and a record of doing them, read on.

The comparison

Prices, platforms and update dates were read from each app's UK App Store listing on 25 October 2026. Android is listed only where we found the Google Play page.

The app writes them for your fear

You describe the fear. The steps are made for it.

• Conquer Fear, Oct 2026
• Bia, Aug 2026(builds a programme from a fear profile)

The app picks from its own set

Works well if your fear is on the list.

• MindShift CBT, Sep 2026
• oVRcome, Oct 2026(filmed scenes)
• Leapr, Sep 2026(social only)
• PebbleStep, Jun 2026(social only)

You write them

Free, but the hardest part is yours.

• Habituate, Apr 2026
• Calibrate Exposure Tracker, Jun 2025
• FearTools, May 2021
• Exposure: Face Your Fears, Nov 2017

The alternatives, in order

1. Conquer Fear. This is our app, so weigh what follows with that in mind. You name a goal and the fear in the way of it, and it writes a ladder of small real-world steps for that exact fear. It is generated, not picked from a list, so a fear of chickens gets steps about chickens. It shows you one step at a time and asks you to rate your fear from 0 to 10 before and after each attempt. Each attempt is logged as completed, partial or not completed, so a step you turned up for but did not finish still counts in the record. If a step feels too big, you can tap "Make it smaller" on it and it splits it into smaller ones. There is a short help chat for when you are stuck. The free tier gives you one ladder, its first three steps, 20 logged attempts and three help chats. Premium is £9.99 a month, or £49.99 a year with a 7 day free trial on the annual plan. There is also Premium + Coaching, which adds accountability calls with a real person, at £49.99 a month as a founding price in place of the standard £149.99. It is on the App Store for iPhone only and needs a connection. What it does not have: thought records, a community, breathing or relaxation exercises, audio, or Android. If you want any of those, MindShift is the better app for you. If you want to see what one of its ladders looks like first, here is a written example for a fear of talking to strangers.

2. Habituate: CBT Exposure Guide (Corrib Shore Technologies Ltd). The closest thing to "MindShift's exposure tab on its own". You define the situations you want to practise, then run a session with a countdown timer, logging anxiety on a 0 to 10 scale and noting thoughts as they come up. It has charts across sessions and exports a PDF. It is free with no in-app purchases shown on the listing. Two cautions: it came out on 30 April 2026 and has had no update since, and you write every step yourself. We have not tested it hands-on.

3. Bia (MyTherapy LLC). The most complete guided programme here, and the most expensive. The listing says it builds a programme from your "fear profile", paces you with a "guided exposure algorithm", tracks safety behaviours and lets you create custom exposures. It has dedicated programmes for a named list, including fear of vomiting, fear of flying and social anxiety, and says other phobias get custom-built programmes. You can link it to a professional you work with. After the 7 day trial it costs £29.99 a month, £149.99 a year or £299.99 for life. It is on Android too. We have not tested it hands-on, so we cannot say how well the custom programmes handle a fear outside its list.

4. Calibrate Exposure Tracker (Craig Short). A simple, free fear ladder and exposure log. The listing says "Build your fear ladder, break each fear into smaller steps, and track your exposure work", and it is built to fit Drew Linsalata's The Anxious Truth approach, aimed especially at panic, agoraphobia and social anxiety. The wording reads as if you write the steps. It was last updated on 17 June 2025 and needs iOS 18.4 or later. Not tested hands-on.

5. oVRcome (oVRcome Ltd). A different kind of practice: filmed 360 degree scenes you watch on your phone, ideally in a cheap headset. That is vivid in a way a written ladder is not, and it is well maintained. It only works if your fear has been filmed, and it is the priciest subscription on the list at £174.99 a year. Good for spiders, heights or flying. No use for a fear nobody filmed.

6. Leapr (Dawid Ratajczak). Social anxiety only. One real-world challenge a day, with XP and levels, and "Too much? Reshuffle for a new card" if it is too hard. Free. Fine if your fear is talking to people and you like a daily nudge. You do not build a ladder.

7. PebbleStep: Social Anxiety (Steve Scott). Also social only. More than 40 fixed challenges across social, crowd and mindfulness categories, each rated 1 to 7 for difficulty, with anxiety tracked before and after. Free with optional ads. You pick from the list; you cannot write your own.

8. Exposure: Face Your Fears (Inquiry Health LLC). The purest version of the idea: enter any fear, write a hierarchy, work through it while updating your anxiety live. Free. Last updated on 10 November 2017, so expect an old interface.

9. FearTools (Inquiry Health LLC). Same developer, with the exposure tool bundled alongside a thought diary and paced breathing, which makes it the most MindShift-like of the old apps. When we tried it in September 2026 it filled in nothing for you: you write every step. Free, no ads, last updated on 1 May 2021.

Two popular apps that people mention alongside MindShift are not on this list on purpose. Rootd and Dare (both updated 22 October 2026) are built for riding out panic in the moment. They are good at that. They are not a plan of steps.

How to choose

• Free, Android, and you like a broad toolkit. Stay on MindShift CBT.
• Free, iPhone, and you are happy to write the steps. Habituate, or Calibrate if you follow The Anxious Truth.
• You want the steps written for your specific fear. Conquer Fear.
• You want a full guided programme and the price is fine. Bia, especially if your fear is on its list.
• Your fear is common and you want to practise without leaving the house first. oVRcome.
• It is only social anxiety and you want a daily nudge. Leapr or PebbleStep.
• Avoidance has shrunk your life a long way, you are struggling to leave home, or the fear is tied to something traumatic. Talk to your GP or a qualified professional before you lean on any app. The NHS says you can refer yourself to its talking services without a GP referral.

Where we are not the answer

MindShift is free, has no in-app purchases and is on Android. We are none of those. It also has tools we do not, and a community we do not. If any of that is what you want, use it. Bia and oVRcome are on Android and we are not. Habituate and Calibrate cost nothing and do a plain ladder well enough if you already know how to write one. Our case is narrow: you want the ladder written for your fear, one step at a time, with a record of what happened.

How we checked

Prices, developers, platforms and update dates were read from each app's UK App Store listing on 25 October 2026, and Android availability from Google Play on the same day. MindShift's version history is from its UK listing. The MindShift and FearTools hands-on notes come from our tests in September 2026, written up in our earlier comparisons. We did not test Habituate, Bia or Calibrate hands-on. We build Conquer Fear, so read this as interested rather than neutral.

Sources

All checked 25 October 2026 unless stated.

• MindShift CBT, UK App Store listing and version history: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id634684825
• MindShift CBT, Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bstro.MindShift
• MindShift CBT site ("Originally developed in partnership with Anxiety Canada", "Powered by 247 Labs"): https://mindshiftcbt.com
• Anxiety Canada closure notice: https://www.anxietycanada.com
• CBC News via Radio Canada International, "He felt 'chased' by anxiety and got help online", 14 August 2025: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2185510/anxiety-canada-funding-cut-online-resources
• Best For You, MindShift CBT review: https://bestforyou.org.uk/apps/mindshift-cbt/
• Habituate: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id6763002900
• Bia: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id6740422896 and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mytherapy.bia
• Calibrate Exposure Tracker: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id6745742635
• oVRcome: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id1545526126 and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.ovrcome
• Leapr: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id6760896158
• PebbleStep: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id6757210541
• Exposure: Face Your Fears: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id1135230491
• FearTools: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id1179843607
• Rootd: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id1289018369
• Dare: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id1034311206
• NHS, Phobias (self-referral note), page last reviewed 11 March 2026: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/

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Conquer Fear is a self-help tool inspired by exposure principles. It isn't therapy or medical care, and it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If fear or anxiety is affecting your daily life, check with your GP or a qualified professional.